1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sampling device, especially to a sampling device for collecting vaginal specimens with excellent convenience and accuracy of self-sampling.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays awareness on various women's issues is aroused and women pay more attentions on the health care and financial planning. As to women's health care, pap smears and venereal disease tests are important for women. While being checked and collected specimens for these tests by doctors in hospitals or clinics, most of women feel uncomfortable and embarrassing. Although Pap Smear Screening has been promoted as an important medical test, still a lot of women are unwilling to get regular check-ups. Needless to say, women in undeveloped or developing countries have infrequent or no pap smear screening. Besides smear tests, molecular diagnostics technologies herald a new era for cervical cancer screening due to progress in molecular diagnostic markers for various pathogens such as human papilloma virus (HPV). The tests combine self-sampling process with molecular biomarkers have become important screening tools for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. Thus a self-sampling device has been developed for women to collect specimens for molecular diagnostic tests by themselves.
Refer to FIG. 1, a schematic drawing of an embodiment of a conventional sampling device for vaginal specimens is revealed. As shown in figure, a sampling device for vaginal specimens 10 consists of a tube 12, a push rod 14 and a sampling member 16. A sampling opening 122 is on a front end of the tube 12 while the push rod 14 is inserted inside the tube 12 and is extended out of a rear end of the tube 12. A clipping member 142 is arranged on the front end of the push rod 14 and is inside the tube 12. The clipping member 142 clips and holds the sampling member 16 and the sampling member 16 is mounted inside the sampling opening 122. During sampling processes, women insert the tube 12 into the vagina and push the push rod 14 so as to make the clipping member 142 drive the sampling member 16. Thus the sampling member 16 moves forward and exposes outside the sampling opening 122 to collect specimens (such as cell membranes and tissue fluid). By the sampling member 16, the sampling device for vaginal specimens 10 collects the samples directly and the vagina or the sampling member 16 was not lubricated in advance. This leads to discomfort of women during sampling processes. Thus a sampling way for collecting specimens by drawing the solution has been developed.
Refer to FIG. 2, another embodiment of a conventional sampling device for vaginal specimens is disclosed. A sampling device for vaginal specimens 20 includes a tube 22 and a push rod 24. A sampling opening 222 and an injection opening 224 are disposed on a front end of the tube 22. A holding (handle) portion 226 is arranged on a wall of a rear end of the tube 22. The push rod 24 is inserted into and is arranged slidingly inside the tube 22. A piston 242 is disposed on a front end of the push rod 24 for injecting/drawing solution. During collecting processes of specimens, women insert the tube 22 into the vagina and push the push rod 24 to drive the piston 242 move and the solution therefront moves toward the injection opening 224 (or the sampling opening 222) to be injected into the vagina. Then pull the push rod 24 to draw the solution through the sampling opening 222 (or the injection opening 224) for collecting specimens. The sampling is achieved by pushing the push rod 24 to inject the solution for washing area to be sampled. Then pull the push rod 24 to draw the sampling solution. However, such operation is neither convenient nor easy. And drawing effect of the push rod 24 being pulled is uncertain and unstable. This causes troubles in following medical tests so that this sampling way is not so ideal.
Moreover, because lives of modern people are so busy, people don't have time to go to hospitals or clinics for medical tests regularly. Once people can buy sampling device for specimens at convenience stores, collect the specimens by themselves at home and send the collected specimens to the hospitals or medical test laboratories for following test procedures, screening tests of gynecologic diseases are going to be more easier and prevalent. Furthermore, for women that live in mountain range or other area lack of medical sources, or those who are traditional and conservative, such self-sampling procedure is quite convenient and is beneficial to women's health.
Thus there is a need to provide a new sampling device for vaginal specimens that not only improves shortcomings of conventional sampling devices such as no lubricants and poor sampling effect, but also prevents women from feeling uncomfortable and maladapted during sampling processes. Moreover, the sampling device has a special design that enables the device to be delivered more conveniently.